1. Versace Swarovski tiara sketch
A design for a Swarovski tiara by Donatella Versace will be auctioned to raise money for charity today.
Austrian auction house Dorotheum has started the bidding for the design at €1000 and the online auction will close today at 11am (noon on February 18 in Vienna).
The sketch is of a tiara designed for the Vienna Opera Ball. Each year a designer has been tasked with creating a tiara for the event. Dolce & Gabbana, Karl Lagerfeld, Marie Boltenstern and Shaun Leane have all created tiaras in the past.
This year Versace drew inspiration from Richard Wagner’s opera The Rhinegold, the first part of the The Ring of the Nibelung.
The tiara sketch has been on display at Palais Dorotheum in Vienna since February 11.
Proceeds from this year’s auction will go to two Caritas projects – Die Gruft, which helps the homeless, and Superar, which aims to inspire people to engage with music.
2. A Maori carving
A Maori carved whale bone hei-tiki pendant – estimated at £800-1200 at Grand Auctions in Folkestone.
Also today a Maori carved whale bone hei-tiki pendant has emerged for sale at Grand Auctions in Folkestone on February 18. Modelled with a tilted head, it is inset with abalone shell eyes and dates from the 19th century.
The Maori in New Zealand carved such pendants from jade and, more rarely, in whale bone to be worn around the neck. The figure represents Tiki – the first man and the equivalent of Adam in the Christian world.
Measuring 3.5in (9cm) high, it is estimated at £800-1200. View this lot on thesaleroom.com
3. A Tompion clock
Made by the illustrious Thomas Tompion, this clock is the star lot in a sale of clocks, barometers and scientific instruments at Dreweatts in Donnington Priory, Newbury, on February 20.
The rare gilt brass mounted ebony alarm timepiece, with a month duration silent-pull quarter-repeat, was made in partnership with Edward Banger.
It belongs to a small group of around half-a-dozen Tompion spring clocks where the movements were held in stock and completed at a later date. Both the dial and movement are signed by Tompion and Banger together, which would suggest a date of finishing shortly after 1701. It is estimated at £30,000-50,000.
Tompion and Banger started working together in 1701, but a serious problem between the pair caused the partnership to come to an abrupt end in 1707-8 for reasons unknown. View this lot on thesaleroom.com.
4. A Second World War Panerai German diver’s watch
A Second World War Panerai German diver’s watch will be offered at Suffolk auction house Lockdales on February 20. Used by frogmen in the Germany navy, the watch is engraved on the back L.K. 700 Kampf Schwimmer HK Marine 1945. This engraving refers to the LehrKommando 700, or LK 700 training camp on the island of Sylt in northern Germany, which was a base for training German combat divers.
It is believed the engravings could have been created by the original owner, with the initials HK, using a modified razor when the island was under British control following the end of the war.
Estimated at £20,000-30,000, the watch has a Rolex 17 Rubis movement, a black dial face and luminous Arabic numerals, luminous baton hands and was working at the time of cataloguing. View this lot on thesaleroom.com.
5. A FA Cup winner’s medal
A 1954 FA Cup winner’s medal presented to Norman Heath, a West Bromwich Albion player, will be offered at Hansons' with an estimate at £4000-6000.
This 1954 FA Cup winner’s medal was presented to Norman Heath, a West Bromwich Albion player who sustained a career-ending injury during the tournament.
Heath suffered severe neck injuries in the semi-final match against Sunderland and had to use a wheelchair for the rest of his life. WBA went on to secure the cup with a 3-2 win against Preston North End in the final.
Heath was awarded a winner’s medal and his team-mates took the trophy to his bedside in hospital.
The gold medal is estimated at £4000-6000 and will be sold by Derbyshire saleroom Hansons on February 21. View this lot on thesaleroom.com.
